According to this article dormice in Devon and Cornwall are crossing some of the regions busiest roads and making their home on the central reservation. The rodents have been found living on verges in the middle of the A30 and the A38. The findings come after 50 animals were electronically tagged to study their movements. The study by the Highways Agency was looking into how the busy roads affected population numbers. Although it is not known how many dormice are killed crossing the road it appears once they are established they prefer to stay put on the central reservation and seem to thrive.

This two headed cow has been born in Bogota, Colombia. Called Jenifer it has two heads but only one brain. The weight of her head means that she cannot stand without help but the farmer has built a hammock to support her.

According to this article chocolate bars could be made smaller in a bid to try and fight obesity. The food standards agency wants the average chocolate bar to be reduced by a fifth to reduce the calorie intake and is trying to get chocolate makers to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. By 2012 the watchdog wants all confectionary to weigh no more than 50g. Manufacturers are also being asked to sell bite size bars as single items instead as part of a multipack. Under the plans fizzy drinks would also be sold in smaller containers. I’m guessing the pack size will go down and the price will not, meaning you get less for your money.

If you fancy driving something a little unusual, then you might be interested in purchasing this van. It is one of the six yellow Reliants which was used in the filming of Only Fools and Horses. The van is for sale on autotrader for £6,995 and it comes with a sheepskin coat, a flat cap, a market keepers suitcase and a bottle of Peckham spring water.

This is interesting its a piece of artwork created by sand artist Andres Amador. He creates these patterns in the sand some of which span over 500 feet. The work involves raking the sand into intricate patterns. Andres first works on the designs in his notebook before working with the sand. The work has to be completed quickly before the sea washes the design away so the effect is only temporary. After all his hard work the artist is left with just a snapshot of each piece of work. Still its fairly impressive stuff.

I drink quite a lot of milk so was interested to read this article that suggests it could cut the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke. According to the article scientists have found that drinking milk can reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke by as much as a fifth. The research which was carried out at Reading University found that milk could have more health benefits than just building strong bones and helping growth and that there is strong evidence of an overall reduction in the risk of dying from coronary heart disease, stroke and colo-rectal cancer.

My new garden has quite a few fruit trees in it, including various types of apples, plums and pears and I have already started using the cooking apples. I made some apple sauce the other day from apples picked the same day and it put the shop brought stuff to shame. Looking at all the fruit still on trees, I think I will fast run out of ideas on how to use them. Any recipe ideas will be appreciated.

A group of Somerset based cheese makers have launched the first piece of cheese into space. The mission which is hoped to be the first space flight by a piece of Cheddar launched a 300g wedge of Cheddar into the upper atmosphere. Unfortunately not everything has gone to plan and the GPS tracking system has stopped working causing the cheese to be lost in space. The organisers are now appealing for help to find the cheese once it lands.. It is thought it could turn up anywhere between Pewsey in Wiltshire and Hertfordshire.

This is interesting its a device that has been made by two Kenyan students which allows bicycle riders to charge their phone whilst cycling. The dynamo powered charger is designed to help people in rural areas who do not have electricity. According to the article people in some villages have to travel long distances to shops where they are charged $2 to charge their phone from a car battery or solar panel. The device is small enough to fit into a pocket along with a mobile phone. In Kenya bicycles are sold with a dynamo which is attached to the back wheel to power the lights. The lead can be switched to plug into the charger instead to power the device. It takes about an hour of pedalling to fully charge a mobile phone.

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